Alda+Christopherson


 * SUMARY: Alda Christopherson, age 21, died on February 25, 1916 after an abortion perpetrated by Dr. Lillilan Hobbs in Chicago.**

Dr. Lillian Hobbs (pictured) was convicted of murder in the 1916 abortion death of 21-year-old Alda Christopherson. The testimony of John K. McDonald, who was granted immunity in exchange, was crucial in the case. He was the father of Alda's aborted baby.

Depending on whose testimony you believe, the whole sordid story began either on February 21, or six weeks earlier.

All the testimony agreed that Alda's lover, John McDonald, had visited Hobbs' Chicago office on Monday, February 21, asking if Alda had been there. Testimony agreed that Hobbs denied having seen Alda, even though the girl had indeed been there. Testimony agreed that McDonald had made arrangements for an abortion for Alda, after first inquiring if the procedure would be safe. He had been planning to marry the girl, and although the pregnancy was "an inconvenience" he wasn't willing to pursue an abortion if it would endanger Alda. All the testimony agreed that Hobbs had assured McDonald that as long as Alda followed instructions, an abortion would be perfectly safe.

It was there that the agreement ended.

Hobbs and Allies Blame Alda
Hobbs, along with her son, William Heyward, and her nurse, Ada Kanter, testified that upon her arrival on the 21st, Alda was very ill, walking slowly and as if in great pain. They all also testified that Alda had spoken of taking dope and trying to self-abort with a buttonhook, and that Hobbs had advised Alda to go to a hospital.

When Alda had demurred, Hobbs testified that she'd instructed Alda to go home, take some quinine and a hot bath, and return the next day.

A five-and-dime clerk, Lillian Thompson, testified that Alda had come to the store at about 10 a.m. on the 21st to buy sanitary napkins. Thompson testified that when she'd asked Alda what her trouble was -- because Alda seemed to be very ill and in great pain -- Alda ha pointed to a buttonhook on the counter and said she'd used a buttonhook and a crochet hook on herself and was going to see a doctor about it. However, Thompson's employer testified that the clerk's "reputation for truth and veracity was bad." (I would add as a side note that a buttonhook would be a bizarre thing to have sitting on a pharmacy counter.)

The Day of the Scheduled Abortion
Whatever Alda's condition on the 21st -- and whatever Hobbs' reason for concealing from McDonald that his lover was supposedly deathly ill and in need of hospitalization when he'd arrived on Tuesday, the 22nd, to arrange an abortion -- McDonald met Alda at about 1:30 that afternoon and brought her to Hobbs' office.

McDonald testified that Alda had been in good health when he'd brought her for the abortion, and that though both he and Alda had been worried, Hobbs had reassured the couple that the girl would be fine as long as she followed instructions.

Here, again, the testimony all agrees: The couple arrived shortly before 2 p.m., entering through the first floor reception area. Alda was sent by the front way down to the basement, while Hobbs herself went down the back way.

Hobbs testified that during the time she'd been in the basement with Alda, she'd merely examined her to determine how much damage the girl had done with the buttonhook. She said she'd found some oozing blood and signs of great inflammation. She said that she swabbed Alda with antiseptic on a bit of gauze, using small dressing forceps.

Hobbs' daughter-in-law and husband, George, both testified that Alda seemed very sick and miserable. Mr. Hobbs said that Alda was moaning and crying. The daughter-in-law said that Alda was pale and walking slowly, as if in great pain, and asked Hobbs to see how much damage the buttonhook had done.

The daughter-in-law also testified that Hobbs called her in to the exam room. Alda was hysterical, weeping and crying aloud, "Oh, my! If I hadn't used the buttonhook I would not have to be here!" (Again, this seems to be an odd assertion. Alda would have been at Hobbs' practice to obtain an abortion, regardless of whether or not she had tried to self-induce earlier.)

All testimony agreed that Hobbs had returned within about 15 minutes to the reception area to speak with McDonald, and that the result of the consultation was McDonald giving her $50.

McDonald said that Hobbs had come to get her fee for the abortion. Hobbs said she'd collected money to admit Alda to the hospital. She said she phoned American Theatrical Hospital and arranged to admit her sick patient. Nobody testified about whether or not American Theatrical Hospital ever got a call from Hobbs to admit a patient.

[[image:HobbsChiTrib13Nov1920.jpg width="178" height="473" align="right"]]Later That Evening
Everybody aggreed that McDonald and Alda left Hobbs' office, with Hobbs insisting that Alda was wretchedly ill, and McDonald testifying that she seemed fine.

McDonald sent Alda by streetcar to the home of Mrs. G.E. Holmes, where Alda was the live-in housekeeper. Later that evening he went to pick her up for a date. He testified that she seemed well. Her sister, Kitty, noted that Alda seemed to be in good health when McDonald picked her up, as well as later when Kitty joined the couple at the picture show. Their other sister, Nellie, also testified that Alda seemed to be in good health late on the 22nd.

The Ensuing Days
But at about 2:30 on the morning of Wednesday, the 23rd, Alda took ill, with vomiting, cramps, and chills. She improved somewhat over the course of the day, but kept to her bed. Hobbs claimed that McDonald came to her practice at about 2 p.m that day to tell her that Alda was well, prompting her to cancel plans to admit the girl to the hospital.

On Thursday, February 24, somebody summoned Dr. Barnsbach at around 9 a.m. He found Alda collapsed, and, based on what little information he'd been given, he diagnosed ptomaine poisoning and had her removed to Lakeside Hospital. As she was being taken from the house, Hobbs arrived and inquired after the girl. When told that Alda was being taken to the hospital for ptomaine poisoning, she did not mention anything to the attending physician about any abortion, or abortion infection -- a grave omission, regardless of whether she or Alda had performed the abortion in question, and showing little regard for her patient's well-being.

It was Alda's sister Kitty who told told physicians at the hospital the true cause of Alda's sickness. She had learned the truth when she'd called McDonald to tell him of Alda's collapse.

Dr. A. R. Johnson performed surgery on Alda. He found her abdomen full of blood and blood clots, an enlarged uterus consistent with 2 to 2 1/2 months of pregnancy, and placental tissue protruding through a large hole in the top of her uterus. He cleaned up the mess in Alda's abdominal cavity and sutured the hole in her uterus. Johnson later testified that a buttonhook can not have done that much damage. The hole, Johnson insisted, must have been made by a much larger instrument, capable of being spread open. This would be consistent with, say, surgical forceps.

Despite Dr. Johnson's efforts, and no thanks to Dr. Hobbs, Alda died on the 25th.



Post-Mortem and Aftermath
During the post-mortem, Alda's uterus was removed and preserved, to be presented as evidence in the trial. Three other doctors, called as expert witnesses, had examined the uterus after Alda's death and said that a buttonhook could possibly have caused the damage, and estimated that the way the edges of the hole were soughing, the injury had to have occurred prior to Alda's visit to Hobbs' practice to have caused such extensive infection.

The jury evidently decided that Hobbs' story didn't hold together well, for they voted to convict her of murder in Alda's death. Hobbs was sentenced to 14 years in prison.

Between the death and the trial, Hobbs had been indicted for the abortion death of Ellen Matson. Ellen died in early November of 1917.

A Successful Appeal
Hobbs made a first appeal of the Christopherson conviction in 1920 but her conviction was upheld. Hobbs tried again in 1921, when she appealed on multiple grounds including the fairly feeble one that only on court documents, she was referred to once as "Lillian Hobbs otherwise Lillian Seymour", but elsewhere on court documents only as "the said Lillian Hobbs". (Hobbs used her maiden name in her medical practice; she was married to an attorney named E. M. Seymour.) She also protested that it was inappropriate to bring up the death of Ellen Matson as evidence of her practice as a criminal abortionist, since Ellen died nearly two years after Alda's death and thus her abortion wasn't evidence of //prior// criminal behavior. She also protested that it would have been sufficient to show evidence that she had performed an abortion Ellen, that introducing the reality of Ellen's death was prejudicial.

The appeal succeeded. The conviction was overturned and a new trial ordered. However, Hobbs' conviction and sentencing for Ellen Matson's death rendered this rather a moot point.

Hobbs was also implicated, but never tried, for the 1917 abortion death of Ruth Lemaire.

Sources:
 * "Woman Doctor Convicted as Girl's Slayer"
 * "Woman Doctor Begins 14 Year Term in Prison"
 * "Lawyer's Wife Accused of Murder By Abortion"
 * "Dr. Lillian Hobbs Wins New Trial in Murder Case," //Chicago Tribune//, Apr. 22, 1921
 * "Court Upholds Sentence for Dr. Lillian Hobbs," //Chicago Tribune//, Oct. 24, 1920
 * "Dr. Lillian Hobbs Taken to Prison; //Plea Pending, Chicago Tribune//, Apr. 22, 1920
 * "Illegal Operations Cause of Three Deaths," //The Day Book// (Chicago, IL), Feb. 26, 1916
 * "Lawyer's Wife Accused of Murder by Abortion," //The Chicago Tribune//, Apr. 14, 1916
 * "Woman Doctor Convicted as Girl's Slayer," //Chicago Tribune//, Dec. 17, 1919
 * "Woman Doctor Begins 14 Year Term in Prison," //Chicago Tribune//, Nov. 13, 1920

These fatal abortions were typical of pre-legalization abortions in that they were [|performed by a physician].

Note, please, that with common public health issues such as doctors not using proper aseptic techniques, lack of access to blood transfusions and antibiotics, and overall poor health to begin with, there was likely little difference between the performance of a legal abortion and illegal practice, and the aftercare for either type of abortion was probably equally unlikely to do the woman much, if any, good. For more information about early 20th Century abortion mortality, see [|Abortion Deaths 1910-1919].

For more on pre-legalization abortion, see[|The Bad Old Days of Abortion] Source: 297 Ill. 399, 130 N.E. 779 Supreme Court of Illinois, People vs. Hobbs No. 13390 Apr. 21, 1921, appeal on behalf of Lillian Hobbs; [|Homicide in Chicago Interactive Database]



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